The key to planting seeds is to find the balance between having the seed buried too deep or not deep enough.
The key to planting seeds is to find the balance between having the seed buried too deep or not deep enough. Just like when you’re putting together a recipe, there are certain ingredients that need to be in the proper quantity for your dish to turn out right. Too much salt and you can’t eat it; too little salt and it’s bland and boring. The same goes for seed-planting: if you plant your seeds too deep, they won’t ever have a chance see the light of day. If they aren’t buried deeply enough, they’ll dry out or starve before they can grow into anything edible.
Smaller seeds don’t need to be buried as deep as larger seeds.
Just as seeds come in a variety of sizes, you should plant them at different depths. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the seeds you’re planting, the closer to the surface they should be planted. For example, lettuce seeds are about half an inch long and therefore need to be buried only two or three times their length under the soil. To contrast this, beans can be over one inch long and need to be planted up to six times their length deep.
This is because smaller seeds need more light than larger seeds and dry out more quickly. When placing small seeds close to the surface of your garden bed, make sure not to plant them too shallowly as they may blow away.
On the flip side, if you’ve planted a seed deeper than it needs to be, don’t worry—plants with bigger root systems will still find their way down into your rich soil.
Smaller seeds are more prone to drying out, in which case they should be planted closer to the surface.
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Large seeds absorb water more quickly and can handle being planted deeper.
Large seeds are better at absorbing water and tend to have more stored energy, so they can be planted deeper in soil. A thicker seed coat around some larger seeds—like peas, corn, and beans—also means that these types of plants can tolerate being buried a little deeper. If you’re planting large seeds like sweet corn or soybeans, start by digging a hole about two inches deep. After sprinkling the seeds into the hole, cover them with a few inches of soil before patting it down slightly so the area is level with the rest of your bed.
Soil that retains water shouldn’t bury larger seeds as deeply as soil that drains quickly.
As a general rule, the larger seeds should be planted deeper than the smaller ones. This is because larger seeds can handle having more soil on top of them, while small seeds may not have enough energy in their reserves to push through a deep bed of soil.
Another very important factor to consider is how quickly your soil drains water. Soil that retains water shouldn’t bury larger seeds as deeply as soil that drains quickly, because large seeds are more prone to rotting if they’re not exposed to air. The water retention rate can be affected by humidity, rainfall and temperature at the time you plant your seedlings.
Smaller varieties should never go more than an inch into the ground, unless indicated otherwise on the seed packet or cardboard container. These little guys need all the sunlight they can get!
It’s also important to keep in mind any environmental factors that could affect how deeply a seed should be planted.
You may have to consider the soil as well. If you have hard, dry soil, lightly moistening it before planting will help the seed know where to go. For sandy soil, add compost to improve structure (this will also help improve water retention). If you’re planting in clay soil, adding sand or perlite can help each seedling find its way through dense earth. Loamy soils are pretty close to ideal and may not need much additional support, but a bit of compost can’t hurt!
High winds could affect plants with shallow roots, while heavy rain could cause a plant with a deeper root system to rot.
If you’re growing plants that have shallow roots, they’re more likely to die in strong winds or be uprooted. These also tend to have a hard time in hot, dry conditions. Plants with deeper roots are better able to survive droughts and can protect themselves from high winds much better than tiny seedlings can.
However, it’s important not to plant the seed too deep because too much water can lead to rotting. If the soil is very heavy clay, the roots will struggle to grow out and find water on their own.
There is no hard and fast rule for how deep you should plant your seed, but doing it just right can make all the difference.
You can determine the best depth for planting your seed by using a simple “six times the diameter of the seed” rule. For instance, if a tiny tomato seed is roughly 1mm in diameter, you would plant it to a depth of 6mm (about ¼ inch). Follow this rule and your seeds should grow just fine.
If you are sowing seeds directly into garden bed soil, you can use this technique as well. If a seed packet says that its seeds should be planted 3-4 inches apart, then make sure to dig holes the same distance apart and fill them with soil so you know where your seeds will go.